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There are various ways to measure unemployment. Switzerland’s standard measure looks at the number of people registered with unemployment offices across the country. By this measure Switzerland’s unemployment recently reached a 10 year low of 2.6%. © Gunnar3000 | Dreamstime.com Today, another unemployment measure was published. It shows a 0.1% increase in unemployment over the fourth quarter of 2018 to 4.6% or 227,000 people. This measure, defined by the International Labour Organisation...

In October 2018, government number crunchers revised Switzerland’s federal forecast budget surplus up from CHF 0.3 billion to CHF 2.5 billion. © Makasanaphoto | Dreamstime.com Today, Bern announced that provisional calculations for 2018 now show a surplus of CHF 2.9 billion, CHF 0.4 billion more than last year’s revised figure. The increase was driven by strict spending discipline and higher than expected receipts, according to the press release. In 2017, Switzerland managed a surplus of CHF...

Only female hens can lay eggs. Many of the hens used to produce eggs come from hatcheries that sort and dispose of the male chicks. © Emiralikokal | Dreamstime.com One way some dispose of these unwanted chicks is by grinding them alive, a gruesome process known as maceration – this video shows how it’s done [WARNING: graphic footage]. Defenders of animal rights in Switzerland want this practice ended. A parliamentary commission recently voted 13 to 7 in favour of a motion to change the law to...

A recent survey by the Federal Statistical Office shows the overall median pay gap in Switzerland’s private sector shrunk to 12% in 2016, down from 12.5% in 2014 and 15.6% in 2010. © Charlieaja | Dreamstime.com In 2016, median pay for women was CHF 6,011 francs a month and median pay for men was CHF 6,830. The gap rose to 18.54% for the highest management positions. Here median pay for men was CHF 10,878 and CHF 8,861 for women. For those with no managerial responsibility the gap was only...

Either at work, at a restaurant, on public transport or in a shop, nearly half of Swiss admit to stealing, according to a survey by moneyland.ch © Industryviews | Dreamstime.com 49% of the 1,500 questioned in the survey admitted to pocketing something without paying. Young people admitted to being the most light fingered. Around a fifth of those aged 18-25 had taken something from the supermarket Migros (20%) or Coop (18%). The rates for all adults were lower: Migros (12%) and Coop (11%). 1%...

A recent survey suggests that half of Swiss residents are satisfied with their financial situation while 6% said they have trouble making ends meet. © Pavalache Stelian | Dreamstime.com In addition, 28% expect their finances to improve in 2019, although fewer women (25%) than men (33%) expect this. 18% expect their finances to worsen and 54% expect no change. Views varied significantly by age group. 40% of those under 36 expected their finances to get better. This dropped to 33% among those...

A recent report places Switzerland second in a ranking of 33 european countries on conditions in the youth labour market in 2016 – youth are those between 15 and 24. © Auremar | Dreamstime.com Switzerland’s overall score of 5.67 out of 7.00 is close to Denmark’s 5.72. Switzerland’s highest scores are for employment rate (6.01) and working conditions (5.77), with education (5.36) and smoothness of transition to work (5.52) coming in lower. This version of the report is focused on the skills...

Between 1999 and 2017 the amount of organic food produced on Swiss farms more than doubled. © Stefano Ember | Dreamstime.com In 1999, 5.3% of Switzerland’s farm output was organic. By 2017 this figure had risen to 11.7%. In 1999, Swiss farms produced CHF 562 million worth of organic food. In 2017, they produced CHF 1.2 billion. Consumers are spending more and more on organic produce. From 1998 to 2017, the average percentage of total food expenditure on organic food rose from 4% to 9%. Based...

An internal EU commission letter says that without a framework agreement Swiss-EU agreements granting access to the EU single market will only be changed if it is in the EU’s interest, according to the newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) and the Keystone-SDA news agency. © Ognjen Stevanovic | Dreamstime.com The letter dated 10 January 2019 and signed by Martin Selmayr, Secretary General of the EU Commission, calls on officials not to start any new negotiations with Switzerland on its...

Switzerland’s unemployment rate, now 2.6%, hasn’t been so low for 10 years, according to the latest figures from Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). © Erix2005 | Dreamstime.com A weakening of the Swiss franc helped boost Switzerland’s economic growth, creating more jobs. The unemployment rate among young workers (15-24) dropped 0.7% to 2.4% as did unemployment among the 50+ (-0.3% to 2.5%). All of Switzerland’s French-speaking cantons saw unemployment decline, however...